6 killed in grenade attack at African military force HQ

At least six people were killed when unidentified militants rammed into the headquarters of an African military taskforce, hurling explosives in its premises in Sevare town of central Mali on Friday (local time).

A spokesperson for the Malian defence ministry was quoted by Al-Jazeera as saying that an unknown number of assailants attacked the compound of the G5 Sahel Force headquarters.

The G5 is a task force consisting of soldiers from Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mauritania, which was created last year with an aim to eliminate terror violence in Sahel, a semi-arid region traversing Central and West Africa.

Despite the presence of French troops and peacemakers, terrorist attacks are frequent in the impoverished region, wherein groups affiliated to the Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda use Mali as a launch pad for plotting such attacks, according to several media reports.

Hundreds of people have been killed in various suicide attacks in Africa over the last few years.